"Slovak foreign ministry has delivered a verbal note to Russia's charge d'affaires in Bratislava today, demanding a member of the Russian diplomatic mission to Slovakia leave the country due to activities contradictory to his status of a member of the embassy's diplomatic staff," a ministry statement said. Ministry spokesman Juraj Tomaga declined to elaborate. "We informed the Russian side in a note about the 72-hour deadline (for recalling the diplomat)... We decided to take such a move on the basis of information from relevant Slovak institutions," Tomaga told Reuters.

The Russian Embassy in Bratislava declined to comment. Slovakia, which spent four decades in the Soviet-led bloc, was one of 10 central and east European countries that joined the EU on May 1, slightly over 14 years after the fall of the communist regime in the region. Reuters